


cloisonné

by comeseetheduck



Series: join us / giantverse [5]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Alternate Universe - Earth, Coming Out, Eavesdropping, Everybody is gay, F/F, Inceptioning, The Talk, Trans Girl Marco Diaz, secret government meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-05-02 23:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14555418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comeseetheduck/pseuds/comeseetheduck
Summary: that was a stressful period, with all of those feelings going wild! now that all of that's been sorted more or less, things are poised to go back to normal, right?wrong.because nothing is ever normal when magic is involved.





	1. mind your business

**Author's Note:**

> this is loosely based off of the song cloisonné by the band they might be giants. 
> 
> there's a poll at the end of this piece for what i should work on next but thanks for reading okay bye you're great

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marco talks to her mom and dad. star does the opposite.

_She was having another one of those dreams, she thought._

_Well, at least she knew she was dreaming?_

_Was she dreaming?_

_Or was she just remembering?_

_It was odd, because she saw herself, and Star, and Janna, and Jackie all hanging out together, and she could have sworn that this had happened in the past, but it felt a little bit different. She couldn’t quite put a finger on it._

_Was she dead? Probably not, but she kind of felt like a ghost. Wouldn’t be the first time._

_The location shifted. Now it was Jackie, maybe? Somebody who looked like Jackie? in an office, talking to somebody else she hadn’t seen before. She couldn’t quite tell if it was Jackie’s face, but it looked like her hair, but different._

_Another shift. Now it was… Glossaryck eating a meatball sub in... Boston, Massachuesetts? It was definitely Glossaryck, and it was probably Boston because everybody around was wearing “I Love Boston, Massachuesetts” t-shirts. Glossaryck looks at her, and tries to wave her down, but she can barely understand anything that he’s saying, and the next thing she knows she’s somewhere else._

_She shifts from cities to towns to mountains to rivers, and eventually she stops recognizing the people and the places and just lets it happen. She shifts to Mewni a couple of times, she thinks, but isn’t completely sure either. After a while they started speeding up, and getting more fluid, so it felt like she was running at super speeds but her feet never touched the ground. She was… flying at super speeds? but the wind never hit her face._

_And then she stopped. It was sudden, but smooth, and now she’s on a beach with crystal clear water and the blackest sand that she’s seen in her entire life. The beach and body of water stretched as far as she could see, and the sky looked like an overexposed photo. She waits for another shift, but it seems to not come, and when she’s had enough waiting, she starts walking._

_The sand is almost entirely flat, and she can see the path of her footprints in the sand. (Was she wearing shoes earlier? Or was she barefoot the whole time?) It stretches for a while, as she walks along the edge of the beach. There isn’t anything to be seen, and it didn’t seem like that was changing any time soon._

_And then, she heard a voice._

_She pauses, and then turns around. There’s a figure, running towards her._

_“Hello?” Her voice is higher than she expects it to be._

_“Marco?”_

_“Who is that?”_

_“Marco, it’s me!”_

_“I don’t know who you are!”_

_“You don’t recognize your own girlfriend?”_

_Marco gasps. “Jackie?”_

_“Of course, Marco!”_

_Marco starts sprinting towards her, and while it had felt like she had been walking for a long time, the two of them reconnected into a hug faster than she had expected._

_“Jackie, I’m so glad you’re here. How did you get here? Where are we?”_

_Jackie breaks away from the hug. “I’m not sure, but as long as we’re here, we should spend some time together. You know it’s been a while.”_

_It had been a while since it was last them without Star or Janna being involved. More recently, it had been Star and Janna, but…_

_Marco smiles. “Yeah, let’s just hang out here.”_

_She wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but it couldn’t be too bad if Jackie was here with her._

* * *

  **September 24, 2016.**

“Marco? Can you come here?”

“Sure, Mom!” She bounds up the steps to her parent’s bedroom, and swings open the door to find both her mom and dad sitting on the bed, waiting for her. She instinctually pauses and closes the door behind her.

Rafael gestures to the bed. “Sit down.”

She can feel sweat trickling down her back. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no,” Rafael says while shaking his head. “We just need to have a… conversation.” Marco frowns.

“Marco, you know that this whole… transgender thing is new to us, and you have our full and unconditional support, but there’s something that we don’t know quite how to handle.” Angie pauses, trying to figure out the best way of saying this. “It’s tradition to name your first son after one of the great-grandfathers in the family. We named you after your great-grandfather Marco because he helped save our families during a very stressful time. We named you after him because we wanted you to have his strength.

“We’ve been thinking of having another child for a while, and we always agreed that we would name our first son Marco, and…”

“and now I’m not your first son.”

“Exactly.”

Rafael puts his hand against Marco’s back. “We’re just thinking about the future, and don’t want to do anything to make you feel unwanted or unloved.”

Marco pauses. “I mean, I haven’t picked out a different name yet, and I’m not out to most of the people that I know yet. I’m not even out to _Star_ and we live in the same house.”

“Should we all-“

“No, Mom, this is something that I have to do myself, but thanks.” She brushes her hand through her hair. “But I won’t feel like you’re trying to replace me if my future little brother is named Marco… a little brother…” Even though she had spent a lot of time thinking of Star as a sibling, she never had spent time imagining herself as an older sister. It was amazing, and kind of scary.

“Speaking of having kids,” Rafael started, “you and Jackie-“

“Dad!”

* * *

She didn’t usually listen in to conversations between the Diaz’s, especially as a guest. She wouldn’t have even thought of doing it if she hadn’t been on the phone with Janna. And yet, there she was, with her ear to the door, trying to decipher the muffled words coming through the door.

It was odd, the way that things had shifted recently. Even before she started dating Janna, it had felt like something weird was going on with the Diaz family. Marco seemed more secretive and private recently as if there was some conspiracy going on that she didn’t know about. She was happy, yes. But she didn’t like being in the dark about things.

It didn’t work, of course. She didn’t have Janna’s stethoscope and the All-Seeing Eye was too big of a risk and she still didn’t know anything about what was happening.

That night, she has a weird dream where she was following a high pitched sound in her sleep. It’s not the first time that she’s had this dream, but when she wakes up, shaken by the uncertainty with Marco and the excitement of her new relationship with Janna, she decides to figure out what is happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a chapter! i made myself a promise that i wasn't gonna do any more of these stories with several chapters happening over the course of a couple of months or whatever but clearly that didn't work out for me at all. ahahahaha.
> 
> authors notes is the part of the piece where i get to rant about how nonsensical the canon of this show is. disclaimer: i haven't actually watched most of season 3 but FIRST OF ALL star gets her wand at the age of 14, burns down everything, and then gets sent to earth at the beginning of the school year only for season 3 to be like "oh yeah her birthday is in the middle of the winter?" that makes no sense! there are other things but i don't have the mental patience to try to write them all here but the point of this piece IRT the rest of it is trying to get all of the bits of season 3 that i find interesting into a way that lets me continue the story. i'm probably too drunk-tired for this to be coherent and maybe this don't make any sense but yeah! i'm gonna tear canon to bits with my bear hands
> 
> OH I forgot to mention i absolutely did not want to broach the idea of these characters having sex with each other but if in the CANON OF THE SHOW Marco is getting a little brother then they would have to have the sex talk, right???? Right???????????


	2. my craft is exploding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star goes through the Deep Dive. Marco and Jackie have their own dreams, or nightmares.

_She wasn’t quite sure when she had brought her swimsuit, but when Jackie suggested that they should go swimming, she had accepted. She didn’t think about a swimsuit when she decided to go swimming, but now that she had spent a lot of time in the water, there wasn’t the damp feeling of denim across her legs or the itchiness of a shirt clinging to her chest._

_It was odd, but a lot of things were odd. Like the water itself. She hadn’t been to a beach this clear in her entire life, and whenever she dipped her head and opened her eyes underwater she could see for miles into the ocean. The sand at the bottom turned to larger and larger rocks, but it seemed to go impossibly deep until the bottom of her view turned into a haze of nothingness, like a black hole._

_She thought about bringing up the weirdness to Jackie. But every time she even looked at her, all her stresses just melted away. It didn’t matter where they were, or why she didn’t remember bringing the swimsuit, or any of the other weird things that happened. It was just Jackie and her, floating on the top of the universe. She’s floating on the top of the ocean on top of the universe, looking up at a crystal clear sky and the sun is missing and she never learned how to swim-_

_she never learned how to swim_

_and now she’s sinking into the ocean_

_she’s sinking into the blackness_

_everything is cold and foreign and fb pbyq._

_something is speaking to her but she can’t quite understand what it’s saying or trying to say. the voice is snzvyvne but she doesn’t remember where it was from. sometime in the past? where had she heard something like this before?_

_“I thought that this was going to be over.”_

_vg’f arire dhvgr gung fvzcyr, zl puvyq. guvf vf n yvsrybat wbhearl gung lbh unir gb tb ba._

_“why do I vojs hc uc cb wh? why was I dwqysr tcf wh?”_

_vs bayl gur jbeyq naq yvsr jnf gung fvzcyr. vs bayl qrfgval jbexrq yvxr gung, cvpxvat naq pubbfvat jub tbrf guebhtu genhzn naq jub yvirf n yvsr shyy bs yhkhel serr bs fhssrevat. lbh ner fgebatre guna lbh oryvrir lbh ner, zl puvyq. lbh unir sevraqfuvc naq ybir ba lbhe fvqr. tb ba, naq or fgebat._

_“I know lwd ndj pgt! ndj’gt iwt -“_

_And then she stopped. It was sudden, but smooth, and now she’s on a beach with crystal clear water and the blackest sand that she’s seen in her entire life. The beach and body of water stretched as far as she could see, and the sky looked like an overexposed photo. On her left, there’s a massive forest full of short grass and shrubs and tall, cartoonishly tall trees._

_“Marco!” A voice rings out from behind her. She turns around to find Jackie, already there, sitting on the beach with a picnic basket._

_“Jackie?”_

_“Of course, Marco!” Jackie stands up and nearly gets tackled by the force of Marco’s hug._

_“Jackie, I had the worst dream… I…” she drops to her knees and starts crying in the sand. All Jackie can do is hold her as tightly as she can._

* * *

**October 2, 2016.**

“Dad, I’m going out to Marco’s place!”

She thinks her dad is awake. The door to his room is closed, and locked, but the television is on, and he has work in a couple of hours, so it wouldn’t be too surprising for him to be awake. She stands inside of the open door, letting the wind blow against her skin, waiting for a response.

Nothing.

Not too surprising, but disappointing nonetheless.

She texts him the same message and starts skating down the street.

In this part of Echo Creek, the traffic isn’t too bad in the late afternoons. The shadows of the suburban houses make the trip to Marco’s place slightly more comfortable, although she finds their regularity uncomfortable. When she’s riding her skateboard, she feels free, like she can do anything, like if she held out her arms she could fly away from her problems and all of Echo Creek. She feels bad whenever she thinks about leaving though. Her dad would miss her if she’s gone, and she would miss her friends. But she knows that she needs to do this, at some point. It almost seemed like destiny, like it was written in the stars.

Speaking of stars, there was Marco’s house. She had almost missed it with her daydreaming. She tries to make that final curve into the front walkway to the house, but the turn is too steep and the skateboard wheels slip off of the pavement into the shrubbery in front of the house. She bails, and catches herself with a few running steps. _I can worry about the skateboard later,_ she thinks to herself.

She knocks on the door and waits. She hadn’t told Marco ahead of time that she was going to come over, but Marco had a relatively consistent schedule. Since the whole debacle a week ago, Marco had seemed a little bit distant in their interactions, not that she could blame her. It was a whole lot of stress in such a short period of time and it was near-miraculous that they were even still together at this point. In any case, she figured that a good way of trying to make it up to her was by giving her a surprise visit so that they could relax together with no stress.

That’s when she hears the explosion from Star’s room.

In a rush, she pushes on the door knob, hoping that the house is unlocked. It’s not. She sprints around to the back door of the house, hoping that they had forgotten to lock it. On the way to the backyard she stumbles a couple of times, on exposed bush roots and then on a concrete step, but she manages to fling open the back door of the Diaz residence without falling down.

A quick skid across the kitchen floor, a hop over a chair in the living room, and jumping up Marco’s staircase three steps at a time, Jackie’s heart is pounding. Knowing Star and even Marco, there’s no way of knowing what she was going to find when she got up to Star’s room. A giant monster? Was the evil warlord back?

She flings the door open to find Star’s room very much destroyed and on fire and Marco sleeping on the floor. Star is flipping back and forth between some magical form that she’s never seen before, and Janna is watching with semi-starstruck eyes. Jackie stands there for a while, not knowing exactly how to react to any of this, before Star notices her standing open mouthed in the door frame and stops flipping back and forth between butterfly forms.

“Oh, hi Jackie! I didn’t expect to see you here!”

Janna waves at Jackie, who is still trying to figure out what question she wants to ask first.

“… _what?_ ”

Janna looks at the bewildered and lost Jackie and puts her hand on Star’s shoulder. “Star, how about you explain all of the magic stuff to Jackie while I clean up this mess?”

“Don’t worry, Janna-banana, I’ve got it!” Star exclaims. She casts a spell that instantaneously cleans up the mess and tucks Marco into bed. Jackie is still speechless.

Janna sneaks up behind Star and kisses her on the cheek. “Star, Jackie is still very confused. You two should go get some ice cream and you can explain what just happened before her mind melts out of her ears.” Star’s face contorts into a confused look. “No, Star, not literally, it’s a figure of speech.” Janna kisses her again. “I’ll stay with Marco, okay?”

“Okay. Come on Jackie, let’s go!” Star grabs Jackie’s hand, and the pair walk down the steps.

* * *

Marco wakes up in a cold sweat.

She’s still in Star’s room, but her head feels fuzzy. Janna is sitting by the bed reading a book. She looks around the room, very much not destroyed.

“Janna, how long have I been out?”

Janna looks up from her reading. “You’ve been sleeping for what, two hours or so? You seemed sleepy, especially after what happened earlier.”

“What happened earlier?”

Janna turns her head. “You used magic. Like, big, scary demon magic.”

Marco sits on the bed, speechless. After a few moments, she jumps out of bed.

“I’m lucid.”

“What?” Janna puts down her book and chases after Marco, who runs towards her room.

“It’s just another one of those dreams again. All I gotta do is scare myself awake.” She opens up the window and pushes the hair out of her face. Janna sprints in front of her, getting between Marco and the window.

Snap. “Chicken butt.”

Marco collapses into her arms, sound asleep.

She sets Marco down in her bed, and then snaps her fingers.

Marco sits up again, rattled.

“What? Janna? …what?”

“You were having a bad dream,” Janna says with a feigned nonchalance.

“Where’s Star?”

“Jackie came over and they went to get lunch while you were napping.”

“Janna!” Marco throws a pillow at her. “Why didn’t you wake me up when Jackie came over?”

“I couldn’t,” she lies.

* * *

The house is empty when Jackie gets back home.

On the dinner table there is a cold, plastic wrapped serving of macaroni and cheese. She peels off the cover and sets it in the microwave for a couple of minutes.

In her room, she eats the steaming hot mac and cheese even though she’s not hungry, and listens to music while doing her homework.

In bed, she thinks about Mewni and magic and what this all means for her life here. She’s not special, like Star is. She’s just an ordinary girl trying to do her best.

She daydreams of places that she could go. North towards the woods, or east to the plains. She could go north to the mountains or go all the way across the country, or the world. It’s not like she can magic her way there. Unlike some people that she knows.

She doesn’t dream that night. All of her dreams were spent during the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think there are going to be four chapters, but there could be more. or less. it really depends on how the writing just decides to happen. all of my good creative energy is going towards painting right now so writing this is slow right now but hey that's life.
> 
> the scrambled text is done through a simple substitution cipher, but it's also not consistent because I figured that if you wanted to translate it i should make it at least a little bit tricky for you. 
> 
> where are Janna's parents? that's a good question. i'll try to figure that out at some point lmao. i probably shouldn't write after drinking late at night and yet, here we are.
> 
> I didn't do a music suggestion last time so here's one: I've been listening to the album Scrambles by Bomb the Music Industry! I like it. I also listened to the milo album Cavalcade while writing this but I'm not sure if that one's still on the internet or if it's disappeared. Have I name-dropped the Fiery Furnaces on one of these yet? Blueberry Boat is a trip and a half. oh, and before writing this I finally went and listened to the Bad Plus Joshua Redmond album but I mentioned that in the last one. I don't really have new music to suggest because I'm trying to listen to all of the 4.3 days of music on my laptop. that is also a slog but I've done eight hours of that so far so.
> 
> next part will be released whenever it is finished


	3. choking on my dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> janna finds herself between a rock and a hard place, so she starts pushing.
> 
> marco pushes back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy pride month! what better way to celebrate pride month than trans girl marco fic?

_They build sandcastles._

_The castles start out small and simple, but as time passes they grow larger and larger until the two can sit inside of them comfortably. They talk quite a bit inside of the enclaves, letting their skin rest from the heat of the sun that seemed to hang in the air without dipping._

_She tried not to think about how strange this whole situation was. Anytime she started focusing on any of the elements around her, she could feel the same sinking black hole that she had fallen into before, and it was easier to not question the world around her than it was to deal with eternal drowning._

_Eventually the ocean air started to trickle against her arm, her stomach rumbled a little bit, and she steps back outside to find that the sky had turned from its overexposed whites to a deep dusky blue. Jackie follows her outside of the sandcastle and stands behind her as she looks out at the waves slowly lapping against the black sand._

_“I’ll start a fire, okay? I think there’s some stuff that we can heat up in the picnic basket. Be back soon.”_

_Marco nods, and sits down on the beach._

* * *

**October 4, 2016.**

Marco finds the note in her locker when she gets to school.

 

> _**jura ner lbh tbvat gb gryy ure? v pna'g xrrc guvf n frperg sberire.** _

She recognizes Janna’s handwriting nearly immediately and sends her a text.

Marco: What was that note about?

Janna: decode it and then destroy it

Marco: Why?

Janna: ill talk later

She spends a couple of minutes trying to solve the cipher during her math class, but after staring at gibberish for a couple of minutes (only getting as far as “EN ARE N TO TELL ER I CAN’T EE T I A RE ORE ER”) she crumples up the note and sticks it into her backpack.

She used to be really into ciphers, too. Back when Janna was just the weird kid next door that went to Catholic school, she would spend time at her house anytime her parents decided to have a date night. As a kid, she had no idea how to interact with Janna, and tried her hardest to stay out of her way when they were together, but of all of the things that happened, one of the ones that she remembers the most vividly was the Book of Ciphers.

It’s one of the few reasons that they stayed connected after Marco’s family moved from that apartment complex. Being willing to listen to Janna excitedly ramble on about different encodings kept their friendship alive enough that when Janna transferred into public school, she spent all of her time with Marco, for a bit.

The bell rings.

 _At least until she got her own bearings_ , Marco nearly says out loud as she packs up her backpack. Something about the note got on her nerves more than usual, but almost everything seemed to be amplified since the past weekend. It was almost like somebody had turned up the saturation on life. It was as if every blue was more blue, every yellow more yellow, every pink more pink… it was almost like being in love, but more painful.

Maybe she wasn’t getting enough sleep. Since the past weekend, her out-of-body dreams had gotten more frequent, and more disturbing. Everything in her head was almost blending together to the point where she almost couldn’t tell what things that had happened over the past couple of days were in her dreams and which ones happened. She really didn’t want to have to mention it to her parents or anything, especially considering all of the drama that happened when she came out to them. She self-corrects that thought: _it really wasn’t that bad all things considered, right? Some people get kicked out of their house or killed for being trans, and I’m lucky enough to be supported, right?_

And if there was one thing that the Diaz family was known for, it was being supportive. They bought her a USA and Mexico jersey back when she thought that she was destined to be a soccer star, and even floated the idea of buying her a skateboard when they noticed how much time she was spending “learning to skate” at Jackie’s house. (Not that she wasn’t actually learning how to skateboard, it was just that she would spend more time kissing Jackie than she would spend skating.)

But with this? There was a whole lot more explaining things, a lot more of quiet conversations in the kitchen when they thought that she was sleeping, a lot more questions.

 _I can’t blame them. They’re probably just as scared and confused as I am._ She pauses. _Actually, no, fuck that, I_ can _blame them. I just won’t hold it against them._

She looks at her phone. She had spent so much time in her head, she was going to be late for class. The hallway was almost entirely Right then, a hand grabs her hoodie and pulls her into the janitor’s closet.

The bell rings.

* * *

“Don’t scream.”

“Janna, what the fu-“

“Did you decode my note?”

“What? No!”

“Why not?”

“I’m not going to spend my entire class decoding some stupid note!”

“It was ROT13, Marco! That’s one of the easiest ciphers to exist-“

“I don’t know why _you_ expected _me_ to know that, but whoop-de-doo, I’ve got to get to class.”

Janna moves her hand to prevent Marco from opening the door of the closet.

“God damn it Marco, do you not understand-“

“Wait one second Janna, why can’t you just fucking talk to me?”

Janna pauses.

“Marco, Star is getting worried about what’s happening. You need to tell her.”

“Tell her what?”

“That you’re not a boy, dummy!”

“I’ll tell her when I’m ready, Janna.”

“Marco, you-“

“What is this about, Janna? What does this have anything to do with you?”

Another pause.

“Marco, I can’t lie to her.”

Marco starts laughing.

“You? _You?_ You can’t lie? You gotta be fucking me right now.”

“Marco, it’s not funny.”

“You’ve literally made my life hell for the past few years, and now that I ask you to do _one_ thing you’re incapable of doing it?”

“Marco, that’s not fair-“

“And going through _all of my shit all the time_ was fair?”

“Marco, I-“

“The _one time_ I ask you to actually respect my privacy, you just can’t do it?”

“Marco, Star asked me to _break into your stuff_ to figure out what’s happening.”

Marco can feel Janna’s breathing on her face. Janna’s on the verge of breaking into tears. She always started crying whenever she got extremely angry.

“Janna. I gotta get to class.” She tries to push past Janna, but Janna repositions herself so that Marco is nearly pinned to the wall of the closet.

Janna glares at Marco. She tries to shoot laser beams out of her eyes with this glare, but Marco stares back. Her stare is unlike anything that Janna has ever seen from her. It’s almost like Marco’s eyes are glowing. Marco pauses, and then speaks.

“I’ve been in this closet for an awfully long time, and so have you. I know I can talk to Jackie about anything, but I don’t know exactly how _your girlfriend_ would react to rumors about _you_ taking _me_ into a closet to do _who-knows-what_ during class.”

Janna recoils, and Marco opens the door to the closet. She leaves the door hanging open and walks down the hallway without saying another word.

* * *

**October 5, 2016.**

“Your girlfriend is being a bitch.”

Jackie’s ice cream is slowly melting from her cone, even though she had only bought it a few minutes ago. She’s been licking it absentmindedly as Janna explains what had happened the past few days, but in her head she’s running through everything that she had done with her the past few days that would suggest that Marco was possessed by a demon in the way that Janna seemed to be suggesting.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t spent time together between hanging out during their lunch hour and doing homework in the library, and nothing about Marco’s general demeanor suggested that she was off in any way.

Well, almost. Yesterday she had seemed extremely tired, and when she showed up to school today, it seemed like all that she wanted to do was go back to bed. But being tired is different than what Janna was talking about here.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

Jackie’s head snaps to Janna. “Yeah, I heard you. Marco allegedly threatened to break you and Star up and you think she’s possessed by a demon.”

“I feel like you’re not taking this seriously. Allegedly? Really?”

“It just doesn’t sound like her.”

“Can you talk to her about this, please?”

“Isn’t this something between the two of you? I’m not exactly sure how I’m supposed to help.”

Janna sighs. “If there’s one thing that I know about Marco, it’s that she adores you. Maybe you can convince her to-“

“Janna, that’s something that she’s going to have to figure out for herself, and nothing that I say is going to change that.”

“What happens if Star figures it out first?”

Jackie pauses.

“Well, in that case, she’s still going to have to deal with the fallout.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sleepy oh my god. 
> 
> music recs:  
> One of Us is the Killer - The Dillinger Escape Plan (kinda. the first four tracks rip but by the fifth track my attachment to it waned)  
> have i shouted out the band Desaparacedos yet? Mr. Conor Oberst From Bright Eyes has some good rock and roll tracks.  
> there is just so much music that I listen to all the time it's hard. my life is a trainwreck.  
> it also looks like this might end up being five chapters.  
> next week is finals for me and then i'm done with school so i'll have more excuses to get drunk and write fic (although i wrote all of this sober)
> 
> uhhh next time on closionne: what the fuck is happening in this fic? what's with all the weird shit? why is this? everything might start making sense in literally the next chapter hang in there i have an idea of what i'm doing with this


	4. tell them the story, raindrop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> weirdness and magic converge. janna has a crisis.

**October 9, 2016.  11:53 pm.**

Janna found herself staring at the same half-finished Algebra 2 problem in between checks of the clock on the wall and her phone.

Star had promised that she would call Janna once she got back from this important ball thing that they were holding in Mewni, and Janna had promised that she would answer her call. Which was probably a mistake, considering that Star was expecting more information on what was up with Marco. At least with Marco she hadn’t promised anything and instead just said that she would look into it, which wasn’t a lie, at least.

It felt like a betrayal of her trust. Knowing what was actually going on for the most part, and then pretending that she was also in the dark. How long could she keep this up? What would happen if Star found out? Thinking about it made her stomach twist on itself.

It’s a feeling that she’s not quite used to.

For years, she’d been able to do whatever she wanted to do without feeling bad about it. There were people that were off her list, of course. Her mom, her older sister, the neighbor’s dog, Star. She never felt obligated to follow what society saw as good despite the best attempts of the Catholic school she went to as a child. So far, it had worked out for her.

And yet.

Selling out Marco felt wrong, and not telling the whole truth to Star also felt wrong, so what is she supposed to do? Should she even mention the incident with Marco in the closet at school? An actual fight is one of the last things she wanted to deal with, but maybe it was necessary.

Jackie had laughed at the demon theory. Then again, Jackie had missed most of the stuff at the séance. She’d also missed out on most of the magic stuff, as far as she knew. Plus, before they were dating Star had briefly mentioned a demon boy that she knew. Maybe he had something to do with it? She looks at the clock again.

**October 10, 2016. 12:01 am.**

She wonders if she needs to be worried about Star. It seems somewhat out of character for her to be out so late without any communication. Probably not, because Star can take care of herself. What she should worry about, right at this moment, is this Algebra 2 homework that she should have finished hours ago.

**12:15 am.**

Her phone rings, shocking her awake. She scrambles to pick it up and looks at the caller ID.

It’s Star.

She composes herself and answers.

“Hello?”

“Janna?”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Something’s wrong with Marco.”

“What?”

* * *

 

**October 10, 2016. 4:12 am.**

Jackie is awoken by a slap to the face. It takes her a moment to process what has just happened, and once she has, she sits up to see Janna sitting right in front of her.

“Janna, what the fuck.”

“Jackie, we gotta go. Right now. It’s Marco.”

Jackie rubs her eyes. “Janna, it’s-“

“Four in the morning, I know. We don’t have much time.

“Jesus, okay. Let me check-“

“Your dad’s already back, don’t worry. We’re losing time here-“

“Wait, how did-“

“I know a lot of things, Jackie. Why did you think Star asked me to find out what was happening with Marco? That’s what I do.”

Jackie’s mix of confusion and drowsiness is palpable.

“Okay, fine. Let me get some clothes on-“

“Jackie, we _really don’t have time we’re going okay_ ” and then Janna pulls her through the Scissors Portal onto the floor of Marco’s room.

“Janna, what-“ Jackie starts before being shushed. She looks around Marco’s very normal room before her eyes pan over to the bed that Star is pacing around. On that bed is Marco, clearly sleeping, hands wrapped around her chest as if she was in a coffin. Around her is a purple, translucent cocoon.

Star looks over to Jackie, and her unusually sour face brightens a little bit. “Jackie, you’re here just in time.”

Jackie reels. “Okay, I need explanations now. First of all, how the fuck did I get here? What happened to Marco? Why is any of this happening now? I can’t handle this.” She can feel herself starting to get lightheaded and dizzy, and she feels her knees growing weak until Janna takes her hands.

“Jackie, look at me. Breathe.”

She takes a few slow breaths, and then looks into Janna’s eyes. There’s something oddly intimate about it, too. She had never taken the time to actually pay attention to what Janna’s face looked like, or the way that her eyelids framed her eyes. She feels herself becoming more and more grounded. Do it for Marco. Do it for Marco.

“Okay. I’m okay.”

“We don’t have very much time. Marco’s trapped in there, and you can get h- _Marco_ out. You’re going to need to wear this tether.” She hands Jackie a studded bracelet of sorts with a glowing purple rope on its end. “Touching the chrysalis should take you straight to Marco. Wake Marco up, and once you do we’ll get you out. Marco will be following you on the way out. When you’re back, we’ll explain everything, okay?” Janna touches Jackie’s face as she says this, and it feels like a lightning bolt.

“Okay.”

She puts on the bracelet, touches the chrysalis, and then vanishes.

* * *

**October 10, 2016. 2:51 am.**

Janna sticks her head out of the window while Star talks to her parents. They had spent the past couple of hours trying to get Marco out of whatever force field thing she was stuck in, and after a little bit of coaxing Star was finally, finally, asking for help.

Maybe it was the cocoon heating up the room, or maybe it was the amount of energy they had put into trying to coax it open, but she could feel the sweat dripping down her face and back. The outside air at three am feels so good, even though Marco’s room isn’t close enough to the ocean to get the best of the ocean breeze. Janna finds herself wishing that she had been wearing a lighter shirt.

It doesn’t feel like it’s been too long before Star is standing right next to her. She taps Janna’s hand and Janna laces their fingers together.

“So what did she say?”

“She’s going to get the Magical High Commission onto it and they’ll hopefully have a solution before morning. I don’t know what I’ll do if Marco’s parents see him like this…”

“Hey,” Janna squeezes Star’s hand. “We’re going to figure this out.” Star smiles at her, and Janna feels a pang of guilt. She lets go of Star’s hand and then brushes her hair out of her face. “So, uh, about the surveillance you wanted me to do…” Star looks over at a very nervous Janna. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but. I kind of know what’s happening?”

“Kind of?”

Janna buries her face in her hands. “Marco made me promise that I would keep it a secret.”

“Why?”

“It’s a… personal thing. Marco’s afraid that it’ll make things… bad, I guess.”

“…Huh.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? You’re just being a good friend.”

Janna pauses.

“…I guess so.”

* * *

_“Marco, do you love me?”_

_They’re sitting in the shade of the massive sandcastle they had spent so long building. Unlike everything else in this world that tended to reset anytime Marco spent time thinking about it, the sandcastles remained. At one point she started keeping track of what seemed to be days that would pass by, but even scribbling markings of days in the sand caused her to be dragged back out to the sea. It had gotten to the point where events started blending together. Everything felt like a haze except for the sandcastles._

_She had talked a lot to Jackie. This was the closest she had ever been with her on a personal level, in her opinion. Before this, there was a lot of unspoken tensions, and she would have to go out of her way to try to figure out what Jackie was thinking and how she should respond. But here, everything felt natural. Free. Effortless._

_But even with the unknown amount of time that they had spent together, even with the nights where she couldn’t sleep and would just watch the way that Jackie’s chest rose and dipped while she slept, even with the days where they would work together building rooms and tunnels, this question caught her off guard._

_Jackie notices her silence and cuddles up to her. “It’s okay if you don’t, really. I’m just wondering.”_

_“No, it’s not that, it’s just… that’s a hard question.”_

_“How is it a hard question?”_

_“I mean, I like you a lot, but does that make it love?”_

_“I don’t know. Does it matter?”_

_“Maybe? I mean…”_

_Jackie stares into her eyes in the way that she loves so much._

_“I mean, I don’t think it matters right now. I’m just happy to be with you.” Jackie laughs and kisses her, and it’s one of those kisses that makes it feel like the entire world is shaking._

_The entire world is shaking._

_A large portion of the sandcastle begins to crumble, and Jackie pulls Marco away from the wet sand as it falls to the ground in almost neat segments._

_Then, silence._

_Then, a voice._

“Hello?”

_Marco scrambles around what was once a sandcastle and is now a giant pile of dirt and starts running in the direction of the voice._

_“Hello?”_

“Marco? Is that you?”

_“Who is this?”_

“Marco, it’s me!”

 _“I don’t recognize who you are-“_ she feels a sinking feeling in her throat, and the pull of the ocean.

Standing right in front of her is Jackie Lynn Thomas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy. okay so fuckin. uhhhhh 
> 
> when i started writing this series i didn't think that i would start doing complicated magic stuff and instead it was going to be a goofy slice of life thing and yet here is this part of it. i can't wait to be done with it because writing magic stuff is really hard for me. then again writing is hard for me in general lmao
> 
> there is one more chapter after this one that will be written whenever. i tried my hardest to get this out during pride month because two chapters during pride month? he'll yeah. just missed it, unfortunately. i'll do other tidying up things tomorrow morning


	5. all your doctors have gone home

**October 10, 2016. 6:30 am.**

"Should we have told her?"

Janna looks out at the night sky.

"She's fine. She still has at least another twenty minutes."

"Yeah but, what if she doesn't make it back?"

"She's going to make it back."

"But what if she runs out of time, and doesn't know why she can't get out?"

"She won't."

"But what if she does? Who's going to explain what happened to her parents?"

Janna's voice drops to a whisper. "...parent."

"What?"

Suddenly, Marco's body starts glowing. Bright flashes of light in every color start to shoot out from her.

"See, there she is. Nothing to worry about."

The light from Marco increases to the point where it's nearly blinding before exploding into light blue flower petals that rain from the cieling. Jackie appears in the haze of flowers, her hands holding onto her knees. She staggers once before she falls onto one knee, and vomits up a pool of flowers and glitter. Janna rushes over to support her first, helping her onto her feet. Jackie stands for a moment before collapsing into Janna's arms.

* * *

Jackie is awoken by a warm towel wiping her face.

It takes a while for the rest of the world to come into focus. When it does, she finds herself looking into Janna's very brown eyes.

She feels a blush rise up her neck and backs away into an unfamiliar chair.

"Shhhh," Janna whispers, even though Jackie hasn't said anything yet. "We're at my house. When you came out, you were covered in this candy sludge, and I was just cleaning you up as best as I could. I would have tried to get you in the bath, but uh..." Now Janna is blushing, and she turns her face away to regain her composure before she continues. "I left a note for your dad, but we have to leave for school in about fifteen minutes. I still have Marco's scissors, so-"

"Wait, what just happened?"

Janna pauses. "Do you not remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Saving Marco?"

Her memories come into a closer focus.

"...right. Everything's still fuzzy, and I'm still confused."

"I'll explain whatever you need me to explain, but we do need to get to school on time."

"Yeah."

Jackie slowly gets out of the chair. She's still wearing her pajamas, and they seem to still be a little bit sticky, along with most of her hair. Her knees wobble for a second, but as she regains her strength, she's nearly tackled in a hug by Janna.

She stands awkwardly, before reciprocating the hug. When she does, she can feel Janna's body shudder.

"I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything."

"It's not your fault-"

"We could have lost you and I should have told you the risks-"

"I'm here, Janna. It's okay."

"...also I hacked your phone to tell your dad that everything was okay."

"You-"

"I just figured that it would be best if you didn't get in trouble, especially considering the whole meetings thing-"

"I never told you about the meetings."

"Marco wrote about it in her diary."

"Which you read."

"Yeah, we had to figure out what had happened to her."

"...what did happen to her?"

"It's a long story," Janna says as she pulls out of the hug and clasps Jackie's hands, "and oh my god we're going to be late for school. Here are some things that you can wear."

The shirt was clearly one of Janna's, but one that she didn't recognize. It was also incredibly soft. Jackie lifts her still-dirty pajama shirt over her head to change for school, and doesn't see a very red Janna sputter and turn around.

* * *

Marco wakes up in her own bed. Her shoulders still stung from the sunburn from being on the beach, but in a way that made it seem more like a distant memory than a place that she had spent the past who-knows-how-long. She rolls over to look at her phone.

 **October 11, 2016. 8:56 AM**.

"Don't worry about it, your mom called you in already."

"Star?"

She was sitting on the other side of the room scribbling notes down into a notebook that Marco didn't recognize. Next to the bed, there was a steaming hot cup of green tea on a plate next to some lemon wedges and small crackers.

She sits up, takes a sip of the tea, and then turns to Star.

"How do you feel?"

"Super tired. I had the weirdest dream. There was a bit where I was flying, and then I was on this beach and Jackie was there, and then there were two Jackies..." she pauses. "Are you okay?"

"Can we talk?"

"Of course, Star."

Star pauses.

"Are you hiding something from me?"

Marco freezes.

"I mean, I get it, some things need to be kept a secret, and I don't need to know everything, but we're supposed to be friends and you could tell me what's happening in your life, and since I didn't know anything when you almost died me and Janna didn't know what to do for a long time, and I don't even think Janna has slept-"

"Wait, I almost died?"

"...yeah. You were in some kind of dream loop thing that I don't understand. It took half of the Magic High Commission to figure out a way to get you out."

Marco stares at her in a quiet silence.

"Star, I'm a girl. That's what I was hiding from you."

Star is staring now.

"I started to figure it out after Mrs. O's, and I've wanted to tell you for a while now but... I don't know, it was terrifying, and I didn't want you to freak out about it or hate me for it, and I don't even know what I'm going to do about people at school, and I don't even know what I should change my name to...

"I'm sorry. You deserved to know."

She looks down at her hands, unable to look Star in the eye. After a few seconds of quiet, she hears Star's chair move, and then Star's hand hold hers.

"It's okay, Marco. I understand."

"Thanks, Star."

* * *

**October 11, 2016. 5:45 PM.**

"So, the first thing that I saw was the beach, right? And it's the blackest sand I've seen in my entire life. I don't see anyone, so I say 'Hello?' to see if anyone else is there, and then Marco responds, so I start running towards her. Then we meet up, and the next thing I know, there's another me, standing right there..."

_Other Jackie is clearly Jackie, but she seems a little bit odd. It's as if bits of herself are slightly exaggerated: the freckles on her face and arm, the color of her hair, the brightness of her smile. It all seems a little bit evil._

_"Marco, what is happening?" she says at the same time as Other Jackie._

_Marco seems just as confused as anybody. "I... don't know?"_

_Real Jackie feels a slight tug on the tether and then she remembers exactly what's happening. "Marco, you gotta come leave with me, right now. You gotta wake up."_

_"What?"_

_"This is a dream, and I'm here to wake you up."_

_"Hold on a second!" Other Jackie stands inbetween Real Jackie and Marco. "This is not a dream at all, this is real. How do you know that this Jackie isn't a shapeshifter here to steal your organs?"_

_"Uhhh...."_

_"Wait, how do you know that Other Jackie isn't the shapeshifter here? It's me, Marco. I'm real."_

_Marco looks at the two girls with a kind of terror in her eyes. "Uhhh.... maybe there's some way that we can tell the difference between who is real and who isn't?"_

_"I've got it. Marco, read my mind."_

_Other Jackie stands head to head with Marco, and Marco concentrates on trying to figure out what Other Jackie is thinking of. Just a few seconds later, her eyes light up._

_"You are thinking of the 1812 Overture!"_

_"Perfect!" Other Jackie and Marco high five, and Real Jackie starts to panic just a little bit. "Your turn."_

_Jackie glares at Other Jackie as she walks past her (it?), but as they pass, Other Jackie winks directly at Jackie. What was that about?_

_Jackie and Marco now stand, heads touching, as Jackie frantically tries to think of something that Marco would be able to guess. Her mind goes back to some of their past dates, when she came out to her, their first kiss..._

_The first kiss. Perfect._

_"Okay, Marco. Go ahead."_

_Marco intently focuses to the point where there's almost sweat dripping down her back, but after a minute of focusing, she gives up._

_"I don't know what it is... it is curly fries?"_

_Jackie laughs. "Oh, Marco. You were always terrible at this game-"_

"...and then I was back."

"That's fuckin' crazy."

"How did you guys figure out how to get me in and out?"

"I convinced Star to call the Magic Commission dudes on Mewni, and they crafted that so that we could get Marco back. They said to use a person with a close connection to her, which could have been Star, but they told us not to use Star."

"Any idea why?"

"I don't know, man, it's not like I have their notes or anything."

* * *

  **TRANSCRIPT OF A MEETING OF THE MULTIVERSE COUNCIL**  
**OCTOBER 10, 2016**  
**MEETING START TIME: 11 PM**  
**NAMES OF ATTENDEES HAVE BEEN REDACTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES.**

11:36 PM

\- Do we have the recording from tonight's ball?  
\- Yes, we have a majority of the conversation between Tom Lucitor and Star Butterfly.  
\- Let the record state that I am still opposed to spying on our own children.  
\- Let the record also state that we literally already discussed this last time.  
\- Play the recording.

11:37 PM

 

 

> STAR: ...and I was ignoring you earlier but I guess I have to get this over with.  
>  TOM: Star, I just want-  
>  STAR: I'm already seeing somebody.  
>  TOM: ...that's good. I'm really happy for you. What's his name?  
>  STAR: Her name is Janna.  
>  TOM: From Earth?  
>  STAR: Yes. Anyways, that's not what I wanted to ask you.  
>  TOM: Ask away.  
>  STAR: Have you talked to Marco recently?  
>  TOM: I can't say that I have. I thought that you two had gotten together, with the whole-  
>  STAR: Song Day Thing, I know.  
>  TOM: Have your parents taken you dating Janna well?  
>  STAR: I haven't told them yet.  
>  TOM: Ahhh. I feel that.  
>  STAR: So, you wouldn't know about anything weird going on with Marco?  
>  TOM: Not that I'm aware of, sorry.  
>  STAR: It's okay.  
>  TOM: Why do you ask?  
>  STAR: There's something strange going on with him, and I gotta find out what it is.  
>  TOM: Can't you just ask?  
>  [unintelligible]  
>  TOM: ...that might be good.

11:39 PM

\- What was with the static?  
\- Part of The Fritz. The point is, we have reason to believe that this Marco character plays a larger role in this than we anticipated.  
\- We're lucky that [REDACTED] is with us, so that we can better monitor the movement of Marco Diaz.  
\- I still don't like this.  
\- It doesn't matter what you like or don't like. We're fighting for our existence here. Now, if anyone else has anything to add, now would be the time. Okay, that's all. Meeting adjourned.

 **TRANSCRIPT OF AN EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE MULTIVERSE COUNCIL**  
**OCTOBER 11, 2016**  
**MEETING START TIME: 3:55 AM**  
**NAMES OF ATTENDEES HAVE BEEN REDACTED FOR SECURITY PURPOSES.**

3:55 AM

\- Thank you for arriving at this hour. New information has been acquired about the condition of Marco Diaz that is incredibly important.  
\- It better be important enough to make me fly all the way to Mewni at this hour.  
\- I promise that it is. Earlier tonight, Marco Diaz was discovered by Star Butterfly inside of a Mewberty cocoon.  
\- That's impossible.  
\- Through work of the Magic High Commission, we will be able to extract Marco Diaz without him going through the full transformation, but we fear that something deeper may have happened. Marco Diaz may have bonded with the wand.  
\- A human, bonding with the Mewni wand?  
\- This would explain where the magic reserves are going to.  
\- If a human being has actually bonded with the wand and has no control over their own magic, the amount of power that they would have could cause The Collapse.  
\- This is all still just a theory.  
\- True, but it's a good theory.  
\- Do we have an inhibitor?  
\- Not yet. We've never had to make an inhibitor for a human being before. We're also not sure if it is necessary. We're in the process of halting the mewberty transformation, so we're not sure how much magic Diaz can get a hold of.  
\- In any case, Marco could cause The Collapse.  
\- What action do we take?  
\- Motion to place subject Marco Diaz underneath Code Red protocol.  
\- Isn't that a bit much?  
\- Maybe so, but the stakes are too high.  
\- [REDACTED], calm down. We'll vote first.

4:02 AM

**EMERGENCY VOTE TO PLACE MULTIVERSE SUBJECT MARCO DIAZ UNDERNEATH CODE RED PROTOCOL  
**

**VOTES IN FAVOR: 35**   
**VOTES AGAINST: 40**

\- This is a mistake.  
\- Putting a death warrant on a child is a mistake. We have people there to keep things under control.  
\- And look at what good your control has done so far.  
\- That's enough. Unless there's anything new information, [REDACTED]?  
\- No other information.  
\- Meeting adjourned.

* * *

_don't go calling law enforcement._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay wow i came here to write some fucking fluff and here i am writing about... whatever this is. secret society ass shit right here. it's also somehow nearly one in the morning and my good computer died so i'm using an old one which aggravates this arm injury i got in 2016, which is good and totally owns so. I’ll check for errors in the morning. EDIT: did some revision hopefully this makes more sense now 
> 
> I watched Shin Godzilla today. it's a good movie.
> 
> okay no more weird dimentional time traveling shit next entry is straight up sitcom-ass hijinks!

**Author's Note:**

> ahahah the end of the piece! make sure to like, comment and subscribe. anyways
> 
> what i was thinking is what should i write next? 
> 
> \- the next piece in this series  
> \- a piece that is within this same universe but isn't in this series  
> \- something angsty and actually canon-compliant  
> \- idk something else
> 
> leave a comment with your vote and good luck with living! life is hard but you can do it


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